The Kurdistan Observer www.kurdistanobserver.com Iraqi Kurds face uncertain future Iraqi Kurds - waiting for what the future holds August 11, 2001 BBC BBC journalist Hiwa Osman has just returned from the little-visited Kurdish  region of northern Iraq. In the first of four features, he examines the internal political situation as well as the Iraqi Kurds' relations with their neighbours  and their view of Western protection.

Mas'ud Barzani - "Our  people have for so long  fought for freedom, we  won't deprive them of it"

Saddam Hussein was asking the Kurds to "kick out the foreigners from their land" and reach
an agreement with him. I asked the journalist whether the Kurdish leadership should respond
to Saddam Hussein's call or not. "No way," was his immediate reaction. "How can we trust
him after what he did?" 
 

Since the 1991 Gulf War and the establishment of a safe haven with Western  protection, Iraqi Kurds have controlled two-thirds of their land.  During this decade, shifts in the regional political scene have reshaped the status of the Kurdish-controlled area of Iraq and modified Kurdish aspirations to establish a greater Kurdistan. Since the 1991 Gulf War and the establishment of a safe haven with Western protection, Iraqi Kurds have controlled two-thirds of their land.

PUK leader Jalal Talabani "I'm an advocate of women's rights and  individual freedoms"

During this decade, shifts in the regional political scene have reshaped the status of the
Kurdish-controlled area of Iraq and modified Kurdish aspirations to establish a greater
Kurdistan.

Dual administration 

In 1992, after the Iraqi administration withdrew from the Kurdish region, the Iraqi Kurds
elected a regional parliament and established their own government. Power was equally
shared by the two main parties; the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the Kurdistan
Democratic Party (KDP). 

The joint administration lasted until 1994 when the two parties began a protracted armed
conflict that led to military interventions by Baghdad and neighboring countries. 

In September 1998, a ceasefire was announced and the two parties signed an agreement in
Washington. The Kurdish region has since been divided into two areas, with the KDP in
Arbil and the PUK in Sulaymaniyah. 

Kurdish strategy 

"We need to foster civil society and invest in the people", said the PUK's Prime Minister,
Barham Salih. "Should the situation changes in Baghdad, we have to provide an element of
stability in Iraq." 

The Kurds seem to be making genuine efforts to establish some form of civil society. Words
like democracy, civil liberties and respect for human rights are heard in political, intellectual
and social circles. 
"Our people have for so long fought for freedom, we won't deprive them of it," was the KDP
leader Mas'ud Barzani's reply when I asked him about his policy on openness. 

Internet access and satellite dishes are readily available without restriction. Hundreds of
newspapers and magazines in Kurdish and other languages are published in the main cities. 

I asked the PUK leader Jalal Talabani about a weekly newspaper, Hawlati, published in his
area, which openly criticises his party. "We were not afraid of bullets. Why should we be
afraid of words?" he said. 

Turkoman, Assyrian and other minorities in the area also have their own political parties,
newspapers and schools. 

"We never had such freedom in the history of Iraq", said a Turkoman leader in Arbil. "This
is a golden age for the Iraqi Turkomans." 

Regional players 

The landlocked Kurdish region's only access to the outside world is through Iran, Syria or
Turkey. 

These regional powers warily view the Kurdish region as a possible base for separation for
their own Kurds. Turkey and Iran in particular view the region as a potential threat to their
own national security and internal stability. 

The Iraqi Kurdish leadership finds itself constantly needing to reassure its neighbours that
their goal is not to establish a greater Kurdistan, but rather, a "more realistic option" - a
relationship with Baghdad based on federalism. 

To prove this, they had to prevent the Kurdish parties in the neighbouring countries from
using Iraq as a base from which to launch attacks. 

The Kurdish region is also a commercial transit area between the regional players and Iraq.
Daily, hundreds of Turkish trucks haul beer, household goods and processed food into Iraq,
and return with cheap Iraqi fuel. 

A planned second road between Iraq and Turkey will bypass the Kurdish area and may
threaten the weak Kurdish economy. 

"The proposed road does not have any economic benefits," said the KDP's Prime Minister
Nechirvan Barzani. "It is merely for military purposes. We will oppose it." 

What is next? 

While enjoying an unprecedented era of self-rule, the Kurds fear the future. Iraqi troops are
stationed but a few kilometres to the south of their areas. 
The ever-present possibility of an Iraqi attack casts a pall over the political, social and
economic spheres. 

While there are US promises, Kurds have no clear assurances about the form and speed of
any Western response should Baghdad attack. 

It is this uncertainty coupled with the internal political division and the recent memories of
chemical attacks and forced migration that leaves Kurds with a distinct unease about their
future. 

Before continuing our interview on Kurdish press freedom, the journalist succinctly
expressed what I was to hear from Kurds of every walk of life. "We can't afford to lose
Western protection. If Saddam was here, we would not be able to have this conversation". 
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